The Fallen Warrior: Part 1
A new series I decided to write :) FYI: I may or may not write Part 2 of this series, it depends on my mood and how much feedbackI get. Just warning you early on, so if you like the story, let me know :) Aight, here it is -Firebird 22:58, July 18, 2011 (UTC) Prologue: "Mother?" "Yes, Jaykit?" "How do we know StarClan is real?" My mother looked at me calmly. Her yellow eyes flashed when moonlight streaming from the leaves on the den hit them. "Cats have seen StarClan Warriors before," she told me. "Couldn't they have lied? Or just imagined that they saw StarClan cats?" I asked. She looked away and shifted her weight to her other side. "I suppose so. But I choose not to think that," she responded. "How can you believe in StarClan? How can you have such blind faith in what cats say?" I asked vehemently. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. A small breeze fluttered her gray tabby fur. "I don't have faith in what others say. No," she began, "I have faith in StarClan. And I know that one day..." She looked at me, emotion sparking in her eyes. "...You will too." Chapter 1: I stalked across camp, ready to claw the face off of anyone who dared to look at me funny. "Jaytalon?" I whipped around, tail lashing, claws unsheathed. Brightkit stood there, wide-eyd and fur bristled slightly. I relaxed and sheathed my claws. "Hey-o, Jaytalon," Brightkit meaowed and nuzzled my chest fondly. I purred and nuzzled my brother back. "Why were you upset?" he asked, looking up at me with his big yellow eyes. "Ah, just a bad day," I told him. He blinked and shook out his light gray fur. He sat back and began grooming his paw. "It'll be okay," he told me. I sat down and gazed around the ShadowClan camp. The sun was setting, and it cast a yellow orange glow that filtered through the pine trees' needle leaves. "What a beautiful sunset," I heard Brightkit murmur. I squinted into the sunlight, feeling my pelt prickle as it warmed my fur. "The healthiness and peacefulness of the Clan makes it seem so much more beautiful," I whispered. "Yes... StarClan has blessed us this season," Brightkit stated. I stiffened slightly and stayed silent. I could feel Brightkit's eyes on me now. "Jaytalon?" "Yes?" I asked stupidly, knowing full well what he was going to ask. "Don't you agree?" I looked back at my younger brother, who was looking up at me, waiting patiently for an answer. He knew full well where this answer would lead, yet has chosen to ask anyway. "... Sure sure," I replied and looked again into the sun. "... You still don't believe," he stated quietly. "No, and I'd rather not." "Why not?" "Because if StarClan were real, why didn't they answer our prayers to save Father?" I spoke. "It was his time to go. There was nothing left for him in this world," Brightkit answered simply. I looked back at him. He was staring into the sunlight, then he looked up into the sky, and smiled to himself. "You can see stars now," he said. I silently thanked him for not pushing the issue. I looked up at the blue-black sky, and the stars twinkled down at me. A small streak of light flashed across the sky. I felt Brightkit move over next to me, and I wrapped my tail around him. His fur was still kit soft, and I smiled when I remembered the moment he was born, how happy I was to finally have a brother of my own. "They say the fast falling stars are the spirits of dieing Warriors," Brightkit told me. I nodded, humoring him and his belief. Another streak of light appeared in the sky. It was slow, and burned brightly like a flame. "And those?" I asked. "Those are rare. They say those are StarClan Warriors falling from StarClan, either accidentally, or, more likely, they have been exiled," he explained. We watched until the streak disappeared on the horizon. I felt a sudden chill and shivered. "Fallen Warriors of StarClan," he whispered. Chapter 2: *Moments earlier, near StarClan... A deep red, feathery furred deep red she-cat flung herself, hissing furiously, at a tom. Other cats hisssed and cheered on rock outcroppings along the inside edges of a sandy pit. In this pit, the red she-cat fights the tom. The cats on the rocks radiate danger, evil, and sin, and their eyes hold a wild light as they cheer on the two cats. They exchange mice, betting on who would be the victor. The she-cat pulls away, shoulders hunched and head low, and stalks around the tom, who hisses at her. A low growl resonates from her throat. The tom whipes away foamy spit from his mouth and whiskers. The red she-cat stops, hackles raised. There is no blood from the two cats. They are already dead. "Firebird!" a cat yowls. All noise stops. All cats look up as one to see the owner of the voice. The cat is standing at the top of the pit, the moon at it's back and silhouetting it in such a way that they could not recognize the cat. Regardless, the betting cats flee up along the rocks, up over the rim, and into the shadows. The red she-cat remains, standing tall. Her eyes, orange at the center, yellow at the edge, and blended together where the two colors meet, are guarded as she stares up at the cat. "Bluestar?" she calls. "Yes, Firebird. Come here," the cat says. Firebird climbs the rocks, and follows Bluestar into the trees. "You have gone and affiliated yourself with Warriors of the Dark Forest! You should be punished!" "I was only-" " 'I was only this,' 'I was only that.' That's all we ever hear from you, Firebird!" Thunderstar hissed. Firebird lowered her head. StarClan cats were gathered around her and the former ThunderClan leader, watching. "I knew you and your mother back in the old Clans, when you were just a kit. You were always a trouble maker. Why haven't you changed? How do you think this makes Windstar feel?" Firebird looked over at her mother, the former WindClan leader. She looked back at Thunderstar. "You have everything here in StarClan. Why can't you be happy?" "StarClan is so boring! There's nothing to do but sit around!! All I was doing was finding something to stimulate my mind, my reflexes!!" Firebird exclaimed, trying to make him see sense. "You could hunt!" Thunderstar hissed. "I've tried that! It's boring, and frankly, too easy here!!" "Well," Thunderstar growled, "then how about we put you where it won't be so easy, where you'll hunt and fight out of necessity?" Firebird's eyes widened. She looked over at her mother with pleading, apologetic eyes. Windstar simply shook her head and looked away. Firebird turned her gaze back to Thunderstar. "... No... You can't..." "Firebird, I hearby exile you from StarClan, back to the earth. If you can somehow prove to us that you've changed and are worthy of StarClan, you may come back," Thunderstar decreed. "What if I die?" "You have four lives. If you grow old, you will be reborn from the earth again at this age. If you are slain in battle, you will simply come back to life in the state you were in before death. If your lives are up, and you have yet to prove yourself, you join your friends in the Dark Forest." "... N-no... No, you can't-!" Chapter 3: The scents of the forest surrounded me as I walked quietly through the pine leaves. I kept thinking about Brightkit and his faith in StarClan. The whole thing just sounds like something that Warriors are told so that they aren't afraid of death, so that they will become more nobel, loyal cats. And yet, I wanted to believe... At least as a kit. "But I just can't," I whispered to myself. I stopped and looked above at the treetops. The mid-day sun was shining through, but barely. Clouds covered most of the sky. We would have rain soon. "Just can't what?" I sighed and turned to the gray she-cat. "Mother..." "Yes, Jaytalon?" my mother asked innocently. "Were you following me?" "Well... yes, but I was going to ask if you wanted to hunt, not trying to stalk you," she explained. "Well, okay then," I agreed and smiled. "Good. Now, what can you not do?" she pestered. I turned around and began walking deeper into the forest. I heard her scramble to catch up, then her soft footfalls on the leaves next to me. "I can't believe in StarClan," I told her. She sighed and stopped. "Jaytalon..." I stopped and faced her. Her yellow eyes flashed and she rested her tail on my shoulder. She stared me in the eyes, as if searching for something. "You are so much like your father, both in looks and personality..." she murmured. I bowed my head slightly. I knew that every time she looked into my blue eyes she saw my father. "Which is why I will tell you what I told him: You can't just say that you can't believe. You must search inside yourself for StarClan, and they will be so excited to have you, that they will meet you halfway and help you understand. They're all around you, Jaytalon. You just have to be willing to let them in," she whispered. "But what will they say if I finally do let them in?" I asked quietly. A small smile krept onto my mother's face. The light from the sun shone on her eyes, making them dance and sparkle. "They won't say 'What took you so long?' or 'Finally,' if that's what you mean. They'll say 'We've missed you so much,'" she said and smiled. "Jaytalon! Shrewheart! There's something wrong with Brightkit!" We both whipped around and stared int the face of Whiteclaw. He rushed back to camp, and we raced after him. "You left him alone?!" I yowled over the wind in my ears. "No, I would never! I left him with another queen!" Shrewheart yowled back at me. "Then what's going on!" "You heard the exact information that I did! How should I know?!" We burst into camp, seeing the medicine cat hunched over Brightkit, who was laying on the ground, spazaming, with his eyes rolling back into his head. Chapter 4: Firebird awoke ina forest of pine trees. She looked around, yellow-orange eyes blazing. She opened her mouth, revealing her strange amount of teeth, and yowled. "Hey!" She stood up, circling around the area where she had fallen, looking up into the sky. "Hey!!" she yowled, "I know you're listening, StarClan!" Silence. She bared her teeth at the sky. She has five canine teeth instead of four, like normal cats. There is an extra one next to her top left canine tooth. She tilted her right ear upwards, just in case she may have missed StarClan speaking. She is deaf in her left ear. "Well... Well I don't need you!" she hissed at the sky, making any cat that may have been watching think she was a loon. The red she-cat stalked into the forest, mumbling angrily to herself. "Stupid StarClan... I'm free from you now..." She stopped midstep, one paw hovering above the ground. "I'm free!" she squealed and pranced about. She climbed trees, throwing herself from the highest branches and rolling when she hit the ground, squealing and laughing like a kit. She raced through the forest, her WindClan blood giving her speed to die for. She saw a clearing ahead of her, and heard yowls and hissing and cheering. She skidded to a halt and peered through the trees, seeing a congregation of something painfully familiar. "It's a fighting ring," Firebird whispered. Painfully familiar, literally. "And those cats are betting!" Firebird grew excited as she watched two she-cats rip each other to shreds, blood flying, and wondered how she could join. The two-she cats were fighting in a sandy clearing, and the betting cats stood around the outside, cheering and hissing. Firebird looked around and saw another clearing just beyond this one. It was empty, but she got a notion that there was something there she couldn't see. "Well, hello there. You seem interested. Care to join us?" A skinny tom was speaking to Firebird. "Why, yes, actually," she said and smiled. Firebird moved up beside the tom, and saw that the first fight was over. They dragged one of the she-cats out of the ring. She was dead. A fierce looking black she-cat entered the ring. "Place your bet." The black she-cat prepared to face off with the beat up, bloody she-cat that wasn't dead from the first fight. It vaguely occured to Firebird that this wasn't fair. "No, I want to fight," Firebird said loud enough for all to hear. The area became silent. "What?" the skinny tom asked. "I want to fight." Category:Fan Fictions